India's dictionary memory man amazes Oxford's English language experts
London, February 19 /PRNewswire/ -- A recent article on the Ananova website (www.ananova.com) reports that an Indian man has made the record books by memorizing the entire Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary verbatim.
Mahaveer Jain not only remembers each of the 80,000 individual entries but is also able to recollect their sequence and page numbers with pinpoint accuracy.
The youngster's feat has earned him a place in the Limca Book of Records, India's version of the Guinness Book of World Records.
The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary is published by world-famous language experts Oxford University Press. The original edition of the dictionary, published over 50 years ago, was the first major dictionary to be compiled specifically to support learners of English, with clear explanations of the meaning of words - and how they are used.
The worldwide success of the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary has made it a target for illegal copying and pirated copies. But Oxford has no need to worry this time - in fact, Moira Runcie, Editorial Director for ELT Dictionaries at Oxford University Press, has only praise for this walking, talking version of Oxford's most famous dictionary for learners.
'It's an incredible achievement. Our editors are constantly revising and re-editing the Oxford Advanced Learner's dictionary to keep it up-to-date. Amazing as it seems, Mr Jain probably knows the dictionary even better than an Oxford editor!'
It is reported the engineering graduate memorized the entire book in just ten months by adopting scientific learning techniques perfected by his teacher Biswaroop Roy Chowdhury, a national memory record holder.
He told the Hindustan Times: 'While not everybody can perfect the art to the extent Biswaroop or I have, they should be able to achieve a lot through proper training.'
Mr Jain, who is popularly called 'Dictionary Man', runs the Dynamic Memory Centre in the northern city onow. It seems to be a title that's well deserved - as Sally Wehmeier, editor of the OALD remarked:
'It's certainly quite a feat - in fact, it gives 'memory' a whole new definition! One thing is certain: thanks to the OALD and his amazing memory, Mr Jain will never be at a loss for words!'
SOURCE Oxford University Press